Endurance Trust

Endurance Trust is not yet a functioning grants program in any conventional sense — it is a newly IRS-recognized (June 2023) private foundation, governed by three uncompensated trustees (Thomas Kubiak, John Harrington, Janet Harrington), that only received its meaningful capital base in fiscal year 2024. The public record shows no formal application process (`application_instructions` is explicitly blank in IRS/990 data, no deadline, no published typical grant size), no grants page, no listed grantees, and no contact email — only a PO Box (PO Box 121, East Schodack, NY 12063) and a c/o contact name. This profile matches the common pattern of a family or estate-originated trust that has just been funded and has not yet built out grantmaking infrastructure.

For applicants, this means treat Endurance Trust as a relationship-first, invitation-leaning funder rather than an open-RFP one. The single stated focus area on file is "Community Development," under the broader IRS classification of Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Grantmaking Foundations (NTEE T90 — a catch-all code for trusts without a narrowly defined program area). That combination signals the trustees likely have personal or regional priorities (Rensselaer County, NY and the Capital Region are a reasonable starting geographic hypothesis given the East Schodack address) rather than a codified national program.

First-time applicants should not submit an unsolicited full proposal. Instead, lead with a short letter of inquiry addressed personally to the trustees, explicitly naming "community development" alignment, and mailed to the PO Box — there is no portal or email to route through. Because disbursements to date are tiny ($905 and $3,400 across the two most recent filings), do not assume large-scale funding capacity yet; the FY2024 asset jump to $5.39M is a leading indicator worth monitoring (via the trust's next 990-PF, typically filed in April) rather than a signal that a big check is imminent. The most realistic path in is a warm introduction through the trustees' known local or business network — Thomas Kubiak is also listed as manager of an East Schodack-based LLC (Endurance Property Holding), suggesting local business and property ties worth researching before an approach.

The financial record is thin and best read as "pre-program" rather than representative of steady-state giving. In fiscal year 2023, total revenue was $67,199 (99.3% from contributions), total expenses were $905, and net assets ended the year at just $66,294 — a trust with almost no capital and negligible activity. In fiscal year 2024 (filed April 28, 2025), revenue jumped to $5,326,945 (again ~99.8% contributions, meaning the growth came from a donor contribution rather than investment returns), while total expenses were $4,339 and charitable disbursements were $3,400. Net assets closed FY2024 at $5,388,900.

There is no grantee list to analyze (the data bundle shows zero recorded grantees, no average grant amount, and no geographic breakdown of past giving), and no `typical_grant_size` or `application_deadline` is on file. That absence is itself the key data point: across two consecutive filings, cumulative charitable disbursements total just $4,305 ($905 + $3,400) against a now-$5.39M asset base — a payout rate for FY2024 of roughly 0.06% of year-end net assets, far below the ~5% minimum distribution private foundations are typically required to pay out based on average net investment assets (note the FY2024 average asset base was much lower than the year-end figure since the contribution likely landed late in the year, which would explain the low required payout so far). Grant seekers should expect this ratio to change materially in the FY2025 filing (due around April 2026) once a full year's average asset base is subject to the payout requirement — a foundation of this size would typically be expected to move toward distributing somewhere in the tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands of dollars annually going forward, but that is a projection based on IRS payout rules, not a confirmed figure, and should be treated as such.

Endurance Trust sits in a cluster of small, similarly-sized "named trust" private foundations that IRS Business Master File data lists at nearly identical asset levels (~$5.39M), a pattern common among lightly-documented family and estate trusts rather than institutional funders with distinct giving personalities.

Only one of the five peers (Brookdale Foundation) maintains a public website, underscoring that this entire peer set is composed of low-visibility trusts rather than actively marketing grantmakers. Applicants should not expect Endurance Trust to behave like a program-driven foundation with published guidelines; the realistic comparison point is that most peers in this bracket operate by direct, personal referral rather than open application.

The most consequential recent event is financial, not programmatic: between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings, Endurance Trust's net assets grew from $66,294 to $5,388,900 on the strength of a single large contribution (revenue of $5,326,945 in FY2024, 99.8% from contributions per the Form 990-PF filed April 28, 2025). No press coverage, grant announcements, leadership changes, or program launches were found in web search — the organization has no discoverable news footprint under its own name (searches surfaced only unrelated organizations sharing the word "Endurance," including Artist Trust's Endurance Grants program in Washington State and Endurance Technologies Ltd., an Indian auto-parts manufacturer, neither of which is connected to this East Schodack, NY trust).

Trustee continuity appears stable: Thomas Kubiak, John Harrington, and Janet Harrington are listed as trustees with zero compensation on both the FY2023 and FY2024 filings, suggesting no governance turnover since the June 2023 tax-exemption ruling. Charitable disbursements remain modest and roughly flat in absolute terms despite the asset jump ($905 in FY2023 versus $3,400 in FY2024), which reads as an organization still in its capitalization phase rather than one that has scaled up grantmaking to match its new asset base. The next 990-PF filing (expected around April 2026, covering FY2025) is the single most useful document to watch — it will show whether disbursements begin to track the ~5% minimum payout expectation against the larger asset base, which would signal the trust is ready to run a real grants cycle.

Because Endurance Trust has no published application form, portal, deadline, or contact email on file (`application_form_url`, `application_deadline`, and `contact_email` are all blank in the IRS/990 record, and `application_instructions` is explicitly empty), the practical approach differs sharply from applying to an established foundation:

• Skip the formal proposal. Do not send an unsolicited multi-page application or budget packet as a first move — there is no evidence the trust has a review process built to receive one. Start with a one-to-two page letter of inquiry.
• Address it to a named trustee, by mail. The only verified contact channel is postal: PO Box 121, East Schodack, NY 12063-0121, c/o Thomas Kubiak. Reference all three trustees (Thomas Kubiak, John Harrington, Janet Harrington) if possible, since governance appears to be a small, hands-on group rather than a staffed office.
• Lead with "Community Development" alignment explicitly — it is the only focus area on file, and using that exact language signals fit against however the trustees are informally screening inquiries.
• Time outreach around the fiscal year, not a public deadline. Filing dates (April 2024 for FY2023, April 2025 for FY2024) indicate a calendar-year fiscal year. Reaching out mid-year (roughly May–September) gives the trustees runway to consider a request before year-end disbursement decisions, and avoids the immediate post-filing period when they are focused on compliance paperwork.
• Do not overestimate near-term capacity. With only $3,400 disbursed in the most recent complete fiscal year, do not pitch a six-figure ask as a first request — propose a modest, well-scoped amount or offer flexibility on size, and treat a first grant as relationship-building rather than a program-scale commitment.
• Common mistake to avoid: treating the endurance.org website as this funder's site. That domain belongs to an unrelated cancer-support ministry (Dave & Jan Dravecky's "Endurance") based in Salina, KS — referencing its programs or language in an application would immediately signal the applicant did not do direct diligence on the actual East Schodack, NY trust.
• Follow up by phone is not an option — no phone number is on file. Plan on mail-based follow-up roughly 60-90 days after an initial LOI if no response.